This disclosure relates to semiconductor fabrication, and, in particular, to film dispensing/coating and developing processes and systems.
Various processes on coater/developer tools specify different chemicals to be dispensed onto a substrate or wafer for specific types of processing. For example, various resist (photoresist) coatings can be dispensed onto a substrate surface. Also, various developers and solvents can be dispensed onto a wafer. One challenge, however, in dispensing various chemicals onto a wafer is avoiding defects in the dispensed chemicals. Any small impurity or coagulation in the chemical can create defects on a wafer. As semiconductor features continue to decrease in size, avoiding and removing defects from dispensed chemicals becomes increasingly important.